Sketchbook Projects, part 1

Sketchbook Project 2016

This is my fourth year participating in the Brooklyn Art Library’s Sketchbook Project. Opportunities in art don’t come very often, but something like this is an opportunity that all artists should take advantage of.

I came across this project by chance while checking out one of the other artist sites I follow on Facebook. It started out with my first sketchbook titled “A simple place called…” I wasn’t to sure of what I wanted to sketch so I started sketching what I encounter on a daily basis at work (the museum).

The idea for my second book came from my many adventures to the Atlantic coast. See, I’m a beach comber. I like to collect shells so “Wandering shell” was developed from my shell hoarding habit, lol. I decided to take one shell and have it travel, wander around, throughout the entire sketchbook.

Cover of “Familiar friends” for the Sketchbook Project 2016.

This past year in 2016, was different. I wanted to create my sketchbook around my knowledge of mammals, particularly carnivores. If you have ever been to the Field Museum, you would have ventured to the back area behind the bird hall and wandered into what is called Carnivore Corner. This is when “Familiar Friends in our ‘backyard'” was started.

There are so many mounts in the carnivore room, I had to figure out what would be the best representation for the theme I picked. That is when the idea of sketching just North American species came to be. All I needed to do was see how many NA carnivore mounts we had on display and then choose which ones to focus on.

After figuring out what species I was going to sketch, the illustrating began. First, dogs and their relatives…..canids, procynids, ursids, mustelids…then cats and their relatives….felids. The wolf and grey fox were no brainers. I added the kit fox to thee list as it shows diversity throughout North America. Then a raccoon and coati for the procynids. Black and grizzley bears were representing the ursids.

There are many more species but as I only had so many pages to fill for the project I had to narrow my choices to the best representation of carnivores that roam our North American “backyard”.

My 2017 sketchbook is purchased and I have looked at this years themes. Some time in the future I will post and tell you what 2017’s book is all about.